Sonic Chronicles
by Funky Fox
Summary: AU. What if there was no Knothole, and Robotnik only managed to take control of mobotropolis. A mix between most of the Universes (not Underground) R&R please, no flames.
1. Chapter 1: A New Ally

It's a clear blue morning; the wispy clouds are gently floating across the sky, until a red biplane burst through one of them, splitting it into several tiny versions of its former self. Inside the cockpit of the plane was a certain blue hedgehog called Sonic, defender of the people of Mobius against the evil dictator, Dr. Ivo Robotnik. This time however, his mission was not to stop one of the Doctor's evil schemes, but to find the star post in the Tiny Islands Zone, that would lead him to the red Chaos Emerald, the sixth and final Emerald of the set.  
  
"Why does the star post have to be in those islands, there so damn small it'll take me forever to find them." Sonic complained, peering out of the plane at the ocean below him. A small group of clouds blocked his view for a moment, but when they passed one of the islands belonging to the group came into view. "Then again, maybe not."  
  
He starts to descend and line the plane up to land on the beach of the main island, titling the plane left and right to try and keep it steady, he tried to gently touch the wheels down into the sand, but they just passed straight through it, forcing the hedgehog to take off again, he banked hard right to line himself up for another run, this time he pushed the wheels further into the sand, they dug straight into the soft grains bringing the plane to a sudden halt. Sonic hopped out of the cockpit and checked over the plane, the wheels were now buried under six inches of sand with long trenches behind them.  
  
"Oh man, I really need a boat." Sonic moaned.  
  
He quickly gave up on his half assed attempt at digging it out and ran towards the woods that grew on the edge of the beach, after a few minutes of weaving in and out of the trees and hopping over fallen branches, he eventually comes across a small clearing where he stops to take a short rest. But his relaxation was soon spoiled as he heard some branches snap behind the wall of trees, soon he could hear the hum of several small motors, he readied himself for a fight as Motobugs, Caterkillers and Burrowbots came charging out of the greenery. Sonic immediately jumped into the air, curled into a ball and bounced on the backs of the Motobugs, destroying them and setting free the birds inside, next he picked up a Caterkiller by it's head and swung it round into an approaching Burrowbot. While Sonic was dismantling the small group of badniks, a small figure was watching from the shadows, hiding behind the tree when Sonic looked in its direction.  
  
"That's better, I needed a little workout." Sonic said while jogging on the spot. 'I suppose I better go find that star post.' He thought to himself, before speeding off into the depths of the wood.  
  
He eventually comes across a long path where the trees had been cut down. After spending a short moment on deciding which way to go, he began running along the trail, thankful at not having to avoid the hazardous woodland floor anymore. As he was running he began to hear a strange noise getting louder behind him, it sounded like something was moving through the air at great speed. Sonic looked over his shoulder and saw that something was following him, he couldn't make out what it was, as the sun was directly behind it, but he could make out the silhouette, it was quite small apart from the large rotors that seemed to be keeping it in the air, it also had enough pace to keep up with Sonic at his current speed.  
  
'So Robotnik thinks he can make a Badnik fast enough to keep up with me,' He thought to himself, a little grin creeping onto his face. 'We'll see about that.'  
  
Sonic turned up his speed a notch and accelerated away from the pursuing Badnik. After a few minutes, Sonic came to a full stop and waited for the Badnik to catch up, he'd had his fun with it, now it was time to smash it, but the hedgehog was a little disappointed when it didn't show.  
  
"Looks like I went a little too fast for it." He chuckled to himself. But his laughter quickly faded and died when he heard an engine start in the distance. "My plane!"  
  
Sonic burst through the trees and onto the beach, he ran along the coastline until he reached the place where he had left his biplane, just in time to see it taking it's takeoff run, he chases after it, just managing to grab onto the rudder as the wheels lifted off the ground. Sonic holds on for dear life as the plane starts to circle the island, banking to the right and almost throwing him off. He managed to climb back up and sit on the tail end, a leg either side of the body of the plane, slowly he inched his way up toward the cockpit, but he didn't get far as the plane suddenly went into a loop-the-loop and he slid back, holding onto the plane with his arms and legs wrapped around it until he hit the rudder again.  
  
"Man that smarts." He grumbled, in a bit of discomfort at the speed his backside had stopped his movement.  
  
As the plane levelled out Sonic began working his way up again, only to stop half way when it starts to descend back towards the island again, doing a complete roll on the way down. The plane landed near perfectly on the beach, but that wasn't much comfort to Sonic, who was starting to wish he hadn't grabbed onto his plane in the first place, as his landing was a little bumpy. Once the plane had come to a full stop, Sonic quickly crawled along the bodywork and reached down into the cockpit with one hand, raising the other above his head, ready to hit whatever he grabbed onto, expecting it to be the Badnik that was chasing him earlier. But was shocked by what he pulled out, instead of a badnik, Sonic had grabbed a young fox by the scruff of its neck, he was about half Sonic's size, his fur was bright orange with white patches over his chest, tummy and muzzle, he also had three flicks of fur that sprouted from his forehead. His clothing was not unlike Sonic's, white gloves and red and white trainers with white socks, the only difference being that the fox's trainers were red at the heel and white at the toes, instead of red with a white stripe, and he had buckled strapped around his wrists and ankles, presumably to hold everything in place. The cub was cowering at the site of Sonic's angry looking face and his raised fist. The hedgehog immediately lowered his arm and changed his expression to that of total confusion. "What the." Was all Sonic could think of in the spare of the moment.  
  
The fox showed his face from behind his hands and looked at his capture with a guilty look on his face. He coyly smiled and waved at Sonic, knowing that he was going to be in trouble. Sonic frowned angrily at the cub, who immediately stopped waving and looked down at his dangling feet, folding his ears back and feeling guilty.  
  
"What the hell do you think you were doing flying my plane?" Sonic shouted. The cub whimpered a little at Sonic's raised voice. "I just wanted to try it out," He replied. "I'm really sorry mister, I wont do it again." He continued, getting more and more frightened by the second.  
  
"Just wanted to try it out!" Sonic repeated, exasperated by what he had heard. "You're just a kid, and you think you can fly my plane, and without asking."  
  
The fox frowned; he seemed to take offence to being called 'just a kid'. "I'm four and a half," He shouted back, to him this was quite old. "And I said I won't fly your plane again.unless you want me to?" He finished quite quietly, running a finger over the plane.  
  
"NO!" Sonic blurted out as fast as he could, remembering everything he went through. "You almost killed me up there. Now what's your name?" "Why?" The cub asked, starting to get a little worried again. "Just tell me." Sonic said, beginning to lose his patience. "Do I have to?" The kit whined. "Yes!" Sonic commanded, drumming his fingers on the plane through getting tired of waiting.  
  
"It.It's Miles Prower." He said quickly, hoping that the blue hedgehog wouldn't hear it. But he did, and Sonic started to snigger, then let it out into a loud laugh, pounding his fist against the side of the plane. "Stop it." Miles whined, but Sonic couldn't hear him over his loud guffaws.  
  
Eventually Sonic did stop laughing, until he looked at he fox again and just couldn't help himself, letting out another bellow of laughter, infuriating the cub he was still dangling by the scruff of his neck. Miles started to sulk, putting on the best frown he could, jutting out his bottom lip a little and folding his arms.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'm done." Sonic chuckled, wiping a single tear from his eye. "So where do you live?" Sonic asked while climbing off the plane and plonking miles down in the sand.  
  
"I.I." Miles stuttered, looking down at the sand. "Where are your mom and dad?" Sonic questioned, trying to get the fox to give him an answer.  
  
"I.I don't have any." Came the eventual response. He looked up at Sonic a little teary eyed. "Oh," Sonic said, a little surprised. "So who looks after you?" "I do." Miles replied in almost a whisper. "So no-one looks after you?" Sonic asked, kneeling down in front of the cub, his heart reaching out to him. Miles just closed his eyes and shook his head. "I've been on my own ever since I can remember." He finally explained.  
  
Sonic thought about doing something to help the cub, but knew he couldn't. 'Poor little guy, I wanna' help him, but if I take him somewhere with me, he might get hurt with Robotnik after me all the time.' "I tell you what," Sonic perked up. "I'll let you off this time, just don't try anything like that again, okay?"  
  
"You will, gee thanks, I wont I promise." Miles beamed, showing the first true smile since the two met. "Go on then, run along." Sonic said, ruffling the fox's head fur.  
  
Miles giggled a little before scampering off towards the woods. Sonic turned his attentions to his plane, checking to see if it had taken an damage during Miles' joyride, when he heard several kids shouting behind him. He turned around and witnessed Miles being pushed to the ground by a small gang of youths; they were teasing him about his twin tails, then the fox quickly picked himself up and ran into the woods, crying and closely followed by the gang. Sonic was gob smacked, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before, but that wasn't important now, he rushed into the forest after them. It wasn't long before he caught up with the gang, although they couldn't see the fox they were after, they were still shouting out taunts and abuse, knowing that he would hear them. Sonic ran up behind them and at the top of his voice made a scary noise, without even looking to see what it was, all of the kids ran away, leaving Sonic alone with the hidden cub.  
  
He kept as quiet as he could and listened to the sounds around him, and sure enough he picked up a quiet sobbing sound coming from a bush, he slowly walked up to it and parted it down the middle, Miles was sat behind it, facing away from the commotion and hugging his knees. Sonic reached out a hand and gently placed it on the kit's shoulder, Miles squeaked and began to shiver a little, thinking it was one of the other kids, Sonic withdrew his hand, not wanting to scare the cub anymore.  
  
"Hey, its okay," The hedgehog whispered, trying to comfort the fox. "They've gone." "T-they have?" Miles sniffed, turning to face Sonic. "Yeah, it's just me here now." He said, offering to help him up. " You know I didn't even notice you had two tails." He admitted, picking the fox up by his underarms and putting him back on his feet. "And let me tell you something," He continued. "There's absolutely nothing wrong with it." "Th-there isn't?" Miles queried, his voice beginning to perk up a little. "No, I mean it could be a lot worse, you could have a great big wart on the end of your nose or something." Sonic stated, giving the boys nose a little tap. Miles just giggled, already forgetting why he was crying in the first place.  
  
"Hey, I got an idea, how would you like to give me a hand with something?" Asked Sonic. Miles nodded eagerly, and before he knew it, Sonic had grabbed his arm and ran back the way he came, getting back to the beach in seconds. "Wow, that was fast!" Miles exclaimed, still trying to figure out how he got from the woods to the beach in the bat of an eyelid. "Naturally," Sonic said in a cocky tone. "You are looking at the one and only Sonic the hedgehog, the fastest thing on all Mobius. "Wow, you're Sonic the hedgehog, I heard about you, you helped all those animals that got turned into robots, and beat that fat guy." Said the fox, repeating what he'd heard on a radio.  
  
"That's right." Sonic gloated, happy that news of his heroics was spreading. "Now here's what I want you to do. I need to go find the star post that's somewhere on one of these islands, but while I'm gone, I need someone to guard my plane. Do you think you could do that for me?" He asked. "Yeah, don't worry I wont let you down." Miles said confidently. "Oh, wait, is a star post a big pole thing with a picture of a star on it?" Miles enquired. "Yeah, that's it all right." Just managing to figure out the cub's crude description. "I know where it is, it's at the north end of this island, just inside the wood." Miles squeaked, pointing in its direction. "Thanks little guy, that's a big help." Sonic replied, patting Miles on the head. "Well, see you in a few." Sonic said as he prepared himself to speed away. "Oh, and if those kids come back, just tell them whose plane you're looking after. But no flying it, okay!" "Okay." Miles said, looking a little disappointed, moving some sand around with his trainer.  
  
In a flash, Sonic zoomed off along the beach, reaching the north end of the island in a matter of seconds, dashing into the edge of the wood; he almost immediately found the star post he was looking for. He ran around the star post at great speed, activating the warp to the Special Zone, then disappeared inside it. In less than a few minutes Sonic reappeared from the Special Zone, but he was looking a little phased.  
  
"Man, I really hate that place, it always makes me feel so dizzy." He groaned, holding his head and staggering back to the beach. After a quick shake of his head to clear his senses, Sonic rushed back towards his plane, the Tornado. However, when he got there, he wasn't very happy, the engine compartment of his plane was wide open and Miles was inside tinkering with it, he had obviously been looking around the whole plane and had come across a small tool kit in the back, only his lower half visible, his tails wagging with glee. Sonic grabbed the cub by his twin appendages and pulled him from the compartment, his white gloves and fur smudged with oil.  
  
"What did I say about messin' with my plane?" Sonic growled. "B-but you only said I couldn't fly it." Tails defended himself. "You know what I meant." Sonic shouted. "B-but I.I made it go faster." Miles whimpered, hiding behind his raised arms. Sonic's expression changed to that of surprise, but he quickly dismissed the fox's claims. "Yeah right." "But I did, try it if you don't believe me." Miles barked, lowering his arms again.  
  
Sonic decided to give the kit a chance and hopped inside his plane, taking off with considerable pace and zooming over the island like he was in a jet rather than a biplane. When he landed, Sonic was almost speechless.  
  
"See!" Was all Miles had to say, he had taken the time Sonic was in the air to go into the sea and was now clean of oil. "You know, you're pretty smart for your age." The hedgehog commented, hopping out of the cockpit and dropping to one knee in front of the fox. Miles just blushed. Sonic knew that Mobians matured quicker than humans, as most Mobians only lived to around the age of sixty, unlike humans who continue living until they were around eighty, but this kid was even smart for a Mobian.  
  
"S-Sonic.will you be my friend?" Miles stammered. "Uh.sure, if you really want." Sonic replied, not really seeing much to it. Miles beamed a huge smile and wrapped his arms around his new, and only friend. Sonic was taken by surprise by the fox, who was now resting his head against his shoulder; he didn't really know what to do, but he eventually hugged him back, giving him a pat on the back to get him to let go.  
  
"Well," Sonic started. "I got what I was after, so I'll be going, but I promise I'll visit you soon." He continued, starting to get into his plane. "But, can't I come with you?" "Oh, sorry little guy, but I don't want you getting hurt, and I cant afford to have someone slowing me down." Sonic explained, besides, he wasn't to fond of kids, it wasn't that he didn't like them, just that he couldn't stand to be around them twenty-four-seven, all that whining and crying drove him crazy.  
  
"But, I'm not slow, I bet I could beat you in a race." Miles argued, getting a little desperate for ideas. "You really want to come with me that much?" Miles nodded eagerly, almost pleading now. Sonic pondered for a moment, and then grinned slyly when he got an idea. "I tell you what, if you can beat me in a race, then you can come with me, deal?" He said holding his hand out. "Deal." Miles replied excitedly, grabbing Sonic's hand and shaking it. "Just don't be too disappointed when I beat you." Sonic said cockily. Miles just stuck out his tongue.  
  
"Okay, ready set go!" Sonic shouted quickly, zooming off into the distance and leaving Miles in a cloud of sand. Along the way Sonic started to feel sorry for the fox. 'Poor little guy.' He thought. 'He doesn't stand a chance, and I know he's gonna' be really upset when he finally finishes.' Sonic picked up the pace a little, wanting to give himself some time to think of something to say to comfort the boy when he caught up. As he neared the north end of the island though, he slowed to almost a jog, as he was astounded by what he saw. Sat on a rock on the edge of the beach was none other than Miles, swinging his legs and humming a tune to himself.  
  
"Wha.but how, no-one's faster than me." Sonic cried out, his chin almost hitting the floor. "Told ya' I could beat ya'." Miles gloated, grabbing onto his toes and rocking on his tails. "So when are we going?" He asked. Sonic sighed. "Well I suppose I did promise," He started. "But there's no way I'm taking Miles Prower with me, that's too much an uncool name." "B-but you promised you'd take me with you if I beat you." He whined, coming close to tears. "I know, and I will, so how about I call you.Tails!" Sonic suggested. Miles looked back at his appendages and pondered for a moment. "Okay!" "Alright then 'Tails', let's go home." Sonic took Tails back to the plane and began to climb in. "Um.can I fly it back to your place?" Tails asked. Sonic looked at him with daggers. "I'll keep it steady, I promise." "I know I'm gonna' regret this.hop in." He sighed. Tails let out a cheer before leaping head first into the cockpit, then re- righting inside and strapping himself in.  
  
As he started the engine, Sonic climbed up onto the wings and held on tight with one hand, the plane soon started rolling and took to the air with ease. "See, I told you I could keep it steady." Tails gleamed. "That's great Tails," Sonic replied with fake excitement. "But you're going the wrong way, home's that-a-way." He concluded, pointing behind Tails. "Oops." 


	2. Chapter 2: Home

I forgot to put this in last time but shhh, don't tell anyone. I do not own any characters in this story, Sega and Archie do. Yadayadayada.  
  
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Sonic is on his way back to the Emerald Hill Zone, riding on the wings of his plane, the Tornado, which is being flown by his young, new friend, Tails. "So, you looking forward to seeing you're new home?" Sonic asked, having to shout due to the noise and the wind. "Yeah, how far is it?" Tails replied excitedly. "Not far now, just a few more minutes." Sonic began. "Listen, there's someone I've gotta' clear this with first, so I want you to wait with the plane 'til I call you, okay." "Okay, who is it, you're boss?" Tails asked, curious to Sonic's slightly concerned tone. "You could say that." "Will I still be able to stay with you if he says no?" He asked, starting to get a little worried himself. "Well she can be a little tough at times, but don't worry, I think I can sway her into letting you stay." Sonic replied confidently. "Hey look, there it is, time to bring her down Tails."  
  
Steadily, Tails brought the Tornado down for a smooth landing on the luscious green grass, right next to a small, low plateau, following Sonic's directions. As soon as the aircraft had stopped, Sonic leapt from the wings and landed on the plateau, lifting a hidden handle and opening a small hatch, he quickly dropped down inside, landing on a short chute and sliding to the bottom. When he reached the bottom, a furious looking female greeted him; she was of slim build and almost as tall as Sonic, the permed red hair, giving her a little extra height, she wore a blue waistcoat and matching boots. The squirrel/chipmunk hybrid marched towards Sonic and opened her mouth.  
  
"Where have you been?" She started shouting. "You said you were going to be fifteen minutes, and that was two hours ago. I thought Robotnik had got you." "Whoa calm down!" Sonic said holding his hands up, finally being able to get a word in. "I just had a few Badniks to take care of and I had a little trouble with one of the locals. Anyway, as if Robuttnik could catch me." "Well it wouldn't be the first time." She replied. "Okay, okay, so I've been caught before, but I escaped didn't I." He said, trying to regain some of his pride. "Anyway, I brought someone back with me, someone that can help us fight against Robotnik." He said in an excited yet serious tone. "You have? Well where is he?" The squirrel questioned. "Tails! You can come down now." Shouted Sonic, turning and calling up the chute.  
  
They both waited, eyes fixed at the bottom of the slide, she was expecting to see a character of great strength, honed fighting skills and a bad attitude to match, but was dumfounded when a small two tailed fox cub came sliding down. "Wheeee!" He rejoiced with a big smile on his face as if he were at the park. "This is your new ally?" She yelled. "You think this little fox cub is going to help save Mobius from Robotnik?" "Now Sal is that any way to treat a guest." Sonic mocked, intentionally trying to get under her skin. "Tails, I'd like you to meet Sally Acorn. Now you've got to treat her real nice 'cos she's a princess." "Wow, you are, I've never met a princess before." He exclaimed excitedly while trying to bow. "Well don't tell anyone you have, because it's supposed to be a secret." Sally whispered, kneeling down to talk to him. "Okay, I won't." He said, bowing again. Sally stood back up, grabbed Sonic's arm and walked him a few metres away. "What were you thinking, bringing a child here of all places, he could get hurt, or give our location away." She scolded. "Look, he'll be fine, he's real smart, he messed about with the plane and now its faster than ever, and he's fast, and I mean really fast." Sonic explained. "He even beat me in a race around his island." He continued, now whispering in Sally's ear feeling a little embarrassed. "Just give him a chance."  
  
Sally looked at the kit, who was exploring his new surroundings, then looked back to Sonic. "Okay." She finally whispered. "He can stay, but he's not going on any mission until he's older." Sonic nodded in agreement. Sally walked back towards Tails. "You must be tired after your journey, want to see your room?" She asked, offering her hand. Tails took it carefully. "Okay, Princess Sally." "Just call me Sally okay." She said, walking him to his room. "Okay Sally." He cooed again as they both entered the room, which was ready for anyone who was prepared to join their group, or anyone that needed to hide from Robotnik for a while.  
  
After casting his trainers off, Tails jumped onto the bed and clambered under the sheets and nestled himself in the middle, letting Sally tuck him in tight. She headed toward the door, but stopped when Tails called her name. "Sally," He began. "Will you.read me a bedtime story?" Sally was a little surprised, "A bedtime story? Aren't you a little old for that?" She asked, sitting on the edge of the bed next to him. "I'm only four and a half," He admitted. "And I've never been read one before."  
  
Unfortunately the underground base had no storybooks, as they were never needed until now. So Sally had to tell him one from memory, one that her father had told her when she was younger, with a few alterations of course. She began to tell him a story of a brave young fox with two tails, who was the hero of a large kingdom, but before she finished describing the place, Tails had fallen asleep. She stopped narrating and carefully got up off the bed, walking backwards out of the door, while closing it. "Goodnight Tails." She whispered. "Goodnight.Aunt Sally." He quietly yawned back.  
  
Sonic was placing the red emerald in a cool box with the other five they had, they needed to be kept in the freezer because a while ago they had discovered that when together, the emeralds become unstable and disappear back to the Special Zone. Sally came and sat down at the table in the middle of the room, Sonic soon joined her.  
  
"Listen," He started. "I know you don't want him to go on any missions, but could you at least let him fly me to far away zones, at least then I wouldn't have to worry about keeping my plane safe." "Fine, I'll let him do that, but he comes straight back, I don't want him staying out there." Sally instructed. A short silence hit the room, until Sonic finally broke it. "He's tougher than you think you know." "What do you mean?" Sally asked. Sonic began telling Sally about all of the things he had learnt about Tails while he was with him, but this didn't have the effect Sonic wanted, instead of Sally becoming more confident in him, she began to feel more protective towards the kit, not wanting him to go through any more of the grief he had received.  
  
The next morning Tails woke up feeling refreshed, that was the best nights sleep he'd had in a long time, he slipped on his trainers and wandered through into the main room, ready to greet his new friends, but Sonic and Sally were nowhere to be seen. But on the table was a small note, Tails clambered onto one of the chairs and picked it up, it said:  
  
'Dear Tails, we got word that some of Robotnik's badniks are attacking the Green Hill Zone, so we have gone to check it out. Be back soon. Love Sally.'  
  
Tails looked a little disappointed that he'd been left on his own, but his hopes picked up when some of the ink smudged onto his white glove. "It's still wet, they cant be that far away."  
  
He crawled over the table and climbed up the ladder next to the chute, as his head poked out of the second hatch, he spotted them walking away. "Wait!" He called, almost falling out of the base. "I want to come too." He said running up to them. "Go home Tails." Sonic said sternly. "We need you to look after the base." He quickly added, trying not to upset the fox. "But, but." He stuttered, trying to think of something to say. "But what if Robotnik comes and finds the base while you're away, I'll be all by myself and he might turn me into a badnik or something." He said while moving some earth around with his foot and looking up at them with puppy dog eyes.  
  
"Fine." Sally sighed, unable to withstand those eyes. "But stay out of the way when we get there, Sonic may make it look easy, but fighting badniks is harder than it looks." "Don't worry, you wont even know I'm there." Tails said excitedly, bounding up to Sonic.  
  
Sonic grabbed their hands and sped off towards the Green Hill Zone, instantly creating a sonic boom. It didn't take them long to arrive at the zone, and a good job too, it was like a miniature war going on, and the inhabitants were losing, Badniks were chasing the poor people all around the zone. Some of the villagers were even being escorted to transport ships by troopers, which would take them to Robotropolis for roboticization and badnik processing.  
  
Tails gasped at the terrified people and the merciless robots, he wanted to try and help them even though he knew he would be no use. "Stay back Tails." Sonic said, putting an arm in front of the fox to stop him from getting to near. "Go sit over there somewhere, and keep your head down." He continued, pointing over to an area out of the way. Tails nodded and wandered over to the spot Sonic had pointed to, he sat down and hugged his tails as Sonic and Sally began attacking the Badniks.  
  
After a few minutes, most of the badniks had been destroyed and Tails was transfixed on his friends and how skilful they were, while he was in his awe, an unspotted Motobug slowly crawled up behind him, making sure that its large wheel didn't make a noise. Once close enough, it began to raise the two blades on its front, the sun glinted off the blades, but Tails was still oblivious, Sonic however, caught the reflected sun in the corner of his eye, and saw the danger Tails was in. He quickly dashed down the hill he was on, picking up speed as he neared the bottom, he was less than a few minutes away when the badnik was about to strike, and Sonic curled up into a ball, ripping through the robot when its blades were only an inch away from Tails' head.  
  
Sally had seen what had happened, and marched over to the kit looking a little cross. "I knew we shouldn't have brought you along." She growled. "We've been here less than twenty minutes and you're already getting in danger." "Huh!" Tails squeaked, a little confused, the only thing he had notice was a strong gust of wind a second ago. "I haven't been getting into danger, I've just been sat here." He exclaimed. "Look behind you pixel brain." Sonic piped up. Tails looked over his shoulder and saw the long trail of badnik parts stretching a few metres to his right. "Oh." "As soon as were done here, you're going." Sonic started, but stopped when they heard a loud cry for help.  
  
It didn't take them long to find its origin, a villager had been chased of the edge of a cliff by a badnik, and was now holding on for dear life by a large root that had burst through the cliff face. "We save 'em once now we've gotta' save this guy again in less than a minute, that's gotta' be a record." Sonic remarked. "There's no way we can reach him, he's too far away from the top and bottom." Sally exclaimed. "Just wait for him to fall, we can catch him." Joked Sonic. "This is serious Sonic." Sally scolded. " That root could give way any minute, we need to think of something fast!"  
  
"I could." Tails started, but was cut short by Sonic shushing him.  
  
"But." he tried again, pulling on Sally's waistcoat.  
  
"I said quiet Tails, we trying to think of a plan." Sonic barked. "But I could get him down." Said Tails, finally getting a word in after Sonic stopped telling him off. "Oh here we go. So what are you going to do pixel brain? Fly up there and bring him down?" Sonic mocked. "Yeah, how did you know?" Tails replied innocently, much to the shock of the two teenagers. But Sonic soon started laughing. "That's a good one Tails, you almost had me there, as if foxes could fly." He chortled.  
  
"But I can, watch." The fox said, sticking his tongue out to concentrate. He looked over his shoulder at his Tails, then coiled them around each other, then quickly spun them around like helicopter blades, slowly the kit began to lift off the ground, dangling his arms and legs beneath him. "See."  
  
Sonic and Sally were lost for words and just watched as Tails flew over their heads and up towards the hanging villager, calling out to him once he gets there.  
  
"Take my hand." The villager was shocked to see a young fox floating by his side and was too afraid to reach out, until the root began to pull out from the cliff and he was more than happy to grab Tails' hand. The two dropped sharply as Tails took a moment to get used to the extra weight, but he soon slowed his descent. "Boy, you're really heavy." Tails groaned as he struggled to keep them both in the air, his shoulders feeling like they were about to pop out of their sockets. "I can't keep this up." He gasped, getting more and more tired by the second. He eventually had to give up and let himself coast the rest of the way down, luckily the villager was only a few metres from the ground and managed to land without injury, as soon as his hands were free, Tails let himself drop, landing neatly in Sonic's arms.  
  
"Told you.I could.get him down." He panted, before falling asleep through sheer exhaustion. Sonic smiled. "So that's how you beat me, you flew over the woods."  
  
The remaining Badniks and troopers had fled from fear of being destroyed and the zone was now at peace, so Sonic and Sally decided they would go home and let Tails nap there. It was a few hours before they reached their home, but they were shocked when they did, the village was a mess, it looked like it had been ransacked, but worse than that, it was totally deserted, not one Mobian was left in the town. Sonic lowered his arms, dropping Tails in shock, the fox yelped as he hit the floor.  
  
"Ow, that really hurt, and I was enjoying that nap." He moaned, before looking to the town himself. "Hey, where is everyone?" He asked while picking himself off the floor. "I think it's obvious that Robuttnik's behind this." Sonic growled. "The attack on the Green Hill Zone must have been a diversion." Sally thought aloud. "We've gotta' go save 'em." "But how?" Sally began. "We don't even know if he's taken them to Robotropolis, he may have taken them to an outpost. We're better off waiting until tomorrow." "But Robotnik could have Roboticized them, or put them into Badniks and send them to attack us by then." Sonic argued. "I know, but if we go now, we could end up getting caught, we need rest." She said, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You're right." Sonic sighed, though hating to admit it. "But I'm not just gonna' sit here, I'm gonna go talk to my contacts, see what I can find out, you stay here with Tails and see if you can train him up a little." "Oh no, he's not going anywhere." She shouted, grabbing onto Sonic's arm before he could run away. Now it was Sonic's turn to do the convincing. "Look I know that you're afraid that he might get hurt, but now that we know he can fly, he could come in really useful, and if you train him, then he's less likely to get hurt."  
  
It was obvious that Sally was still not happy about the idea, but she knew Sonic had a point, the rescue mission would be a lot easier with three of them. She slowly nodded and let go of Sonic's arm, letting him run off into the distance.  
  
While Tails was resting, Sally had gone into the base, after a few minutes she came back out carrying a large sack, full to bursting with who knows what, tied tightly at the top with a piece of string. "This," She began, dropping the bag in front of Tails. "Weighs about the same as Sonic, I want you to fly it up to the top of that loop." She continued, pointing to the nearest 360-degree structure. Tails grabbed the neck of the bag and started to twirl his tails, he pulled hard slowly lifting it off the ground. Straining to keep it a few inches in the air, he looked at how far away the loop was and groaned. He eventually made it to the structure, setting it down with a thud and collapsing onto his back, panting.  
  
"Good." Sally commended him. "Now bring it back." "Can't I rest first?" The fox moaned. "Not if you want to come with us." Tails let out another groan and picked himself up, slowly taking the sack back down to Sally. She made him do this for over an hour before finally letting him rest, as she knew he was genuinely exhausted, rather than just being lazy. After fetching him a glass of cold water, Sally began to walk away, shouting over her shoulder. "I'll be back soon with the next part of your training."  
  
She was gone for about two hours, during which, Tails had found time to have a nap in the sun and had only woken up when a butterfly had landed on his nose and made him sneeze. She ran up to him, slightly out of breath, Tails just looked over her, expecting her to be holding something.  
  
"So where's the next part?" He asked "There." She replied pointing to where she had just ran from. Tails could see several objects getting closer and closer to them, he struggled to see what they were at first but soon realised that they were Badniks, he looked up at Sally with worried eyes. "Don't worry," She said. "I'll be right with you if you get into trouble. Now you better hurry and destroy that Buzzbomber before it fires at you." She warned while pointing up.  
  
Tails took to the air and flew as fast as he could towards the Badnik, but before he could reach it, it aimed its abdomen and fired, Tails was just quick enough to move out of the way of the shot and looked back down to Sally with pleading eyes. "Just fly into it fists first." She shouted up to him, noticing his discomfort. Tails swallowed hard, not really believing that he was about to take on a badnik by himself. He sped through the air in the few metres that were left, and again the badnik aimed it's abdomen at him, but he was to close to move out of the way, so he shut his eyes and hoped, stopping dead when he heard a bang. He winked open an eye and looked over his body, open the other when he realised he wasn't hurt, he quickly noticed the pieces of metal falling toward the ground and Sally looking pleased. The fox felt a rush of confidence in him, he had actually done it, and if he could destroy one, then surely the others would be no problem.  
  
He dropped down from the sky and got ready to attack the other approaching badniks. "Now with the rest, the best way to destroy them is to jump on there backs, but make sure you avoid the sharp parts, like their spike and blades." Sally instructed. Tails attacks the badniks head on, though not as fast as Sonic or Sally, he finds it quite easy to destroy them, when he reaches the final two, Sonic returns from his visit to his contact, and is pleasantly surprised at how Tails is doing.  
  
"He's looking good." He said to Sally. "Of course, I'm training him." She replied. "Yeah, but he would have looked better if I had trained him." Sonic received a light punch on the arm for that comment. "Hey, Tails!" He called. Tails looked over to him and waved, then stopped as he hurriedly hopped backwards to avoid a Motobug's attack. "Come here a sec."  
  
Tails ran to Sonic, who concentrated on what the Badniks were doing. "So, do you wanna' know how to do my Spin Attack?" "Yeah!" Tails nodded excitedly. "Now watch me, I'm going to do it slower than normal, so you can see what I'm doing." Sonic ran towards the nearest bot, a Crabmeat, when only a few metres away he leapt into the air, curling up tightly into a tight spiky ball and bouncing hard off its back, destroying the badnik, uncurling and landing neatly on his feet. "Now you try, go for that Caterkiller, but make sure you hit the head, otherwise we'll have to find some tape to patch up the holes it made in you." Sonic warned. Tails followed Sonic's movements to a tee, and even though his spike less body wasn't as effective, it still worked, bouncing off the robot's head with some force, and landing neatly on his back.  
  
"Uh.Tails, you're supposed to land on your feet dude." Sonic mocked. Tails just turned and stuck out his tongue, making Sonic chuckle. "So where are they?" Sally asked, finally getting tired of waiting for Sonic to tell her. "He took them to Robotropolis, but he hasn't done anything to them, he's waiting for us to do something 'cos he's got some new type of Badnik." Sally looked down at her feet; she knew that tomorrow would be difficult. "We should get some sleep." She said, noting how low the sun was getting. The three of them went inside their base to get some needed rest.  
  
The next morning, Sally enters Tails' room to try and wake him, she gave him a little poke, but the fox just grunted and rolled over. "Wake up Tails, its time to go." She whispered. The fox ignored her and continued to snooze. Sonic got tired of waiting and barged his way into the room and next to Tails' bed. "Let me handle this." He said, holding up an air horn to Tails' head. He pushed the button and a deafening noise boomed out of the end, Tails skyrocketed out of his bed and attempted to cling to the ceiling, failing that he fell back down and landed on his bed with a thud. He sat up out of breath and frightened to death, his eyes wide open, and his pupils smaller than pennies. Sally gave Sonic a glare. "What? He's up isn't he?" Sonic chortled, walking out of the room.  
  
After a quick bite to eat and after Tails had calmed down, the three set out towards Robotropolis to rescue their friends from the clutches of the evil Dr. Robotnik, not knowing what new machine he has waiting for them. 


	3. Chapter 3: The Rescue

I do not own Sonic or any related characters. Blah blah. Now on with the story.  
  
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The freedom fighters had just reached the outskirts of Robotropolis, the polluted city and headquarters of the malevolent Dr. Robotnik, who had kidnapped the residents of Emerald Hill Zone. Sonic peered around the corner of a derelict building, checking for any patrols, behind him Sally was trying to silence Tails, who was having trouble breathing in the dirtied air.  
  
"The trick is not to take deep breaths." Sally told the fox. "But I don't have much.air as it is.if I breathe less.I'll suffocate." Tails replied between coughs and splutters. "Just trust me." After a spate of coughs, Tails tried to stop himself from gasping, it took a few moments, but he soon managed to stop choking. "Hey it worked." He exclaimed. "The coast is clear." Sonic butted in. "Let's go."  
  
The three moved along the main street, ducking into alleys along the way, not wanting to take the risk of being spotted. It wasn't long before they reached the very centre of the city, and Robotnik's base of operations. "I really don't like this." Sonic said, walking up to the front door. "I know, we haven't come across a single patrol and there's no-one guarding the front door." Sally concurred. "Not that I'm complaining that we've had it easy, but this is so obviously a trap." He said opening the door. "Which means he knows we're here already, so there's no point in sneaking in." He continued, striding inside as casually as possible. Sally quickly followed, trying to stop him. "Sonic wait, he could have it booby." She shouted, but was cut short as the door slammed shut and locked behind Tails. ".trapped." She gave Sonic an angry glare. "What?"  
  
While they started bickering, Tails took in his surroundings, though he didn't find it beautiful, he was awe struck at all of the gadgets and machinery that lit up the place like a Christmas tree. It was a fairly large room; the walls were made from a thick grey metal just like the walls on the outside, although these weren't heavily coated in oil and grime, at the other end of the room was a small desk, obviously for a receptionist, or a robot equivalent to sit behind, but at the moment there was nobody there. Suddenly the PA system kicked in with an ear-piercing whistle, Sonic and Sally immediately stopped arguing and listened as they heard someone clearing their throat over the microphone.  
  
"Welcome to my humble home Spikeball, I hope you like it because it the last place you'll ever see." Said the voice, trailing into a cold heartless tone before laughing manically. "Yeah whatever Robotnik!" Sonic shouted out, knowing that he would be able to hear him. "What have you done with the Emerald Hill Folk?" He continued. "Why I haven't done anything to them," Robotnik answered, pretending to sound shocked. "Yet. They're down in my Laboratory, but you wont be able to get to them." "Oh and why's that?" As if on cue, a squadron of troopers burst out of a door and lined up, aiming their guns at the Mobians. Tails became scared and began to whimper slightly. "Don't worry Tails." Sonic said, trying comfort the fox. "These guys are easy, just aim for the chest and they virtually fall apart, just don't let them shoot you." "I think he could have figured that one out for himself." Sally mocked before running towards the troopers, closely followed by Sonic.  
  
All of the troopers opened fire on the hedgehog, as they were programmed to do so over any other freedom fighter, this gave Sally the opportunity to just walk right up to them without fear of being attacked. She disarmed the first with a swift kick; the gun went flying into another's head, while the machine was staggering back, she kicked it in the chest, knocking it back into the wall and destroying it. Meanwhile Sonic had already destroyed half of the troop, blasting straight through them like a cannonball, and after taking cover at the sound of gunfire, Tails had finally got the nerve to attack, flying above their heads, punching and kicking as hard as he could. It wasn't long before they had destroyed the whole regiment and went through the door they had come from, leading them to a short hallway with a lift and two doors, one leading to the stairs, the other leading to somewhere unknown as it was locked.  
  
"I think we better take the stairs, Robotnik's bound to have booby trapped the lift." The squirrel said. The other two agreed, Sonic dashed to the front heading up to the next floor, but when he tried the door, it was locked, so he went up another floor. 'Locked too.' He thought to himself. He continued doing this until he reached the very top, the door that led to the roof, he pushed the bar down and heard the clanking sound of it unlocking, but he didn't open it, instead he rush back down to the others, telling them of his news, then picked Sally up and dashed back up again, with Tails flying straight up between the banisters.  
  
They slowly walked through the door, suddenly finding harder to breathe again out in the polluted air, but that soon passed as they caught sight of what was at the other side of the building by the second stairwell. "It's about time you pests showed up, I do have other things to do besides ridding you from my life." The maniacal dictator bellowed. "Cram it Robotnik," Sonic barked back. "What have you done with the Emerald Hill People?" "Oh don't worry they're fine, for now, and you can see them soon enough, but first I want you to meet my newest creation, the prototype of the Metallix!" Robotnik exclaimed, ending his short speech in a tremendous roar.  
  
The trio waited, as Robotnik's new machine slowly revealed itself, walking out from behind Robotnik. He had made it in the form of Sonic himself, the same height and build, even the metal quills looked similar, though as it was a prototype, it had no added paint to it, only having the dull grey of the metal it was made from as colour. "I'm flattered, but I'm better looking than that." Sonic remarked. "And I have to admit, I was expecting something bigger to be hiding behind that big ol' but of yours." "Yes, you can wise crack all you like Spikeball, but it wont stop your demise." Robotnik snarled back. "Metallix, attack!"  
  
The machines blood red eyes glowed brighter for a second as it computed its master's command, then in the blink of an eye it charged at the three, extending its arm slightly and swiping it across them, luckily for Tails he was short enough for the attack to pass right over him, but the others weren't so fortunate, the Metallix hit them both in the face and as a result, they staggered back and tumbled over the edge of the roof. Tails panicked, he ran towards the edge, planning to try and save his friends, but before he could reach it, the Metallix moved between them and he ran straight into it with a hard metal clang, falling flat on his back a little dazed.  
  
As the two fall to their untimely doom, Sonic extends his hand out to Sally, who wastes no time in taking it in her own. Sonic pulls her in close and moves his hand around her waist and waits, suddenly he sticks his free hand out, grabbing onto the end of a flagpole, which bends from the sudden weight put on it, moving them towards the building, timing it just right, Sonic let go sending the two hurtling through a window and into an abandoned office.  
  
By the time his head had stopped spinning, the prototype was towering over him, its eyes glowing brighter than ever, sending a chill down the fox's spine. "Eliminate target." The machine said in a monotone voice, as it began to overload some of its circuits, forming the energy into a ball, making it an effective weapon. Tails curled up as tightly as he could, covering his head with his arms and scrunching his eyes tightly shut, whimpering expectantly.  
  
"Stand down my beauty." Came a voice, Robotnik's'. "You have proved yourself enough, I won't be sending you to the scrap heap." He suddenly felt himself being lifted up by the scruff of his neck, he tried to struggle free but froze when he was turned around and was almost nose-to-nose with Robotnik. "So this is the hedgehog's new recruit, the one who's even faster than he is." Robotnik said with an evil smirk on his face. "I suppose appearances can be deceiving." He mocked. "Lemme go you evil.blob!" Tails shouted, trying to squirm out of Robotnik's grip. "You're lucky I have something special planned for you." Robotnik bellowed, shaking the poor fox around. "I would have let my Metallix have you for that remark."  
  
Tails stopped squirming and almost froze, he didn't know what to be scared of most, being given to the killing machine behind him as some sort of plaything that would be ripped to shreds, or the thought of what Robotnik could have planned for him. He wouldn't have long to find out, as Robotnik took him back inside through the other stairwell.  
  
Meanwhile, Sonic and Sally were just coming to from their little ordeal, and after quickly brushing themselves clean of glass and other things, which they managed to land on they quickly set out to rescue their friend. "I knew we shouldn't have brought him along, why do I always listen to you instead of myself?" Sally snarled. "Because you can't resist my hedgehog charms." Sonic joked in reply. "This isn't funny Sonic, Tails is up their all alone with that madman, we have to save him." "He's not up there." Sonic said, now serious. "What? How do you know?" Said wondered. "If I know Robotnik, and unfortunately I do, he'll have taken Tails down to his laboratory by now. That's where we need to go, not the roof." He explained. "Then let's go." Sally commanded, wanting to hurry things along. She grabbed the door handle and pulled it open, but as soon as they stepped outside of the office, troopers and Badniks galore surrounded them. "We do not have time for this!" Sonic growled, heading for the nearest enemy.  
  
Meanwhile in Robotnik's laboratory, Tails was stood in a small, suspended cage, watching fearfully as Robotnik worked on the device he had planned for him. Sparks fly off in all directions as the evil scientist uses the welder to change the shape of his project. "You better let me go, or you'll be sorry." Tails whimpered, feeling the safety the cage was giving him from Robotnik.  
  
Robotnik turned to face the kit and lifted his goggles from his eyes, leaving them on top of his head as he always does. "What are you going to do, cry on me?" He cackled. "Oh you're talking about Sonic aren't you, well if he does make it past my defences, then he's going to get a nasty shock when he comes to rescue you and your furry friends." He said in a cold tone, opening the cage door and reaching in for the fox. Tails backed to the other side of the cage as Robotnik's shadow loomed over him, he was hoping beyond hope that Sonic would just burst in right now, but when Robotnik grabbed his foot, he knew it wasn't going to happen.  
  
"Come on, let's go, we don't have much time." Sonic said, throwing the last Badnik into the wall. Sally ran past him and barged her way through the stair doors, Sonic, a little taken aback by her swiftness, quickly followed her, picking her up as he rocketed down the stairs and into the basement. It wasn't long before they found the corridor that would take them to the lab, but a security locked door impeded their progress. "That's all we need, if only we had some kind of code breaker." Sally said examining the lock. "Why break the lock, when you can just break the door." Sonic said motioning for Sally to move out of the way. He took a few steps back to give himself a run up, then bolted towards the door, jumping into the air and putting all of his might into a Spin Attack. He hit the door hard, making a sound almost as loud as a small explosion, he made a large dent where he hit it, but he still had momentum, and began pushing the door in, the hinges and locks began to buckle until they were completely ripped from their frame.  
  
Sonic landed on one knee to steady himself, and rubbed the back of his head before standing, his expression was showing how much that had hurt, but he soon hid it as Sally began to pass him, changing it for one that was more smug. "Sometimes I'm so good, I even surprise myself." He commented. Sally just sighed. "Stop showing off and let's go get Tails and the Emerald Hill people." Sonic waited for her to pass before hopping around in agony, holding the back of his head, stifling a scream.  
  
"Laboratory security breached, intruder alert, subjects Sonic The hedgehog and Sally Acorn." The computer announced in Robotnik's lab. Robotnik was busy welding again, the sparks giving his face an ugly glow, behind him an empty cage swung from the short struggle between it's owner and it's last occupant. "Metallix, deal with them!" Robotnik called to the machine standing by a wall behind him. "I obey." The Metallix replied in a cold, unfeeling tone. The Metal Sonic walked out of the laboratory, heading off to meet its prey, leaving Robotnik to his evil deeds.  
  
Back in the corridor, Sonic and Sally were trying to plan for anything they could think of that Robotnik might have waiting for them. "Move!" Sonic shouted, pushing Sally to one wall and backing himself against the other. Suddenly a ball of energy zipped by, exploding somewhere at the other end of the passage. "What the hell was that?" Sonic wondered aloud. He soon found out as the Metallix charged at him, punching him in the face and knocking him to the ground. "You have met your match hedgehog, I am like you in every way, only better." The machine gloated. "We'll see about that." Sonic barked back, getting up and swinging for the robot. But the machine just simply moved out of the way, delivering a blow to the hedgehog's stomach in reply, then let him drop to the floor. Sally made her move, she tried to use hand-to-hand combat against it, but it was simply too quick and blocked everything, countering with a backhand to the face.  
  
By this time Sonic had gotten to his feet and threw a punch at his metal counterpart head, but he didn't hit his target, instead, Metallix had caught his attack and began digging it's sharp fingers into the back of Sonic's hand, then as Sonic began to cry out in pain, it grabbed his extended arm and threw Sonic into the wall, creating cracks upon impact.  
  
Sonic slid down into a sitting position, his head was hurting even more now than it was before, his vision was a little blurred, but he could still see what was going on. The Metallix was stood right in front of him, creating another ball of energy, Sonic wanted to attack him, but he felt too dizzy to do anything. Suddenly Sally stormed in with a flying kick to the Metallix's head, making it fire into the wall, creating a large hole. She helped Sonic to his feet, who tried to focus on his target, he charged at the Metallix, hitting it in the chest with a Spin Attack. The force of the attack knocked the machine into a wall and it collapsed, circuitry sparking.  
  
After they were certain it wasn't getting back up again, they ran the rest of the way down the corridor, finally reaching Robotnik's lab, but when they opened the door, there was nobody there. A large metal barrier slowly lifted up, revealing Robotnik behind inch thick bulletproof glass.  
  
"I don't know how you defeated my Metallix, but your pathetic little lives end here!" He bellowed through an intercom. "Can it Robotnik!" Sonic shouted back. "What have you done with the Emerald Hill people and where's Tails?" "Oh the Emerald Hill fluff balls are just in there." He said pointing to a large metal cell door below him, though Sonic was undecided whether to trust him or not as they could not see inside. "But you wont get to them, and as for Tails, well he's right here."  
  
Robotnik pushed a button and a heavy object dropped from the ceiling, landing right in front of Sonic and Sally, cracking the floor and creating a dust cloud that prevented them from seeing what it was. As the dust starts to clear, a small silhouette appears. "Tails, is that you?" Sally called running towards the figure, only to be struck in the face and flung across the floor, knocking her out cold.  
  
Sonic too could see the figure. "Hey Tails what's the big idea?" He shouted at his friend. But as the dust died down some more he realised that it wasn't his friend, or at least not any more. "What have you done to him Robotnik?" He shouted at the insane dictator, not taking his eyes from his mechanised friend. "I would like you to meet the new Tails." Robotnik laughed. "Complete with arm mounted lasers, rear rotor blades and he's made from a super strong metal I created." "So you've given him some extra fire power than usual, I'm still gonna smash it and free my friend." Sonic said plainly.  
  
"Oh I think not, you see this is no ordinary Badnik, this is my new Cybernik!" Robotnik exclaimed, standing up from his chair, almost expecting a cheer to be heard. "You see a few weeks ago I made plans for the Cybernik, a machine that, like the regular Badnik, uses the creature inside as a battery. But unlike the regular Badnik, it uses the power, skills and intelligence of the host, allowing the machine to think and act on it's own judgement, while still being totally loyal to me." He began to explain.  
  
"Then before I melted them down for failure, some of my Badniks told me of a two tailed fox that had beaten Sonic in a race, and how the fox was incredibly intelligent for his age. I was ecstatic; I knew that if I could get a hold of him then he would be perfect for my Cybernik, so I sent spy cameras to record images of him, allowing me to model the frame. I worked all through the night to get it ready in time, for I knew that by taking the villagers you would bring him with you to save them. And now for doing so, he will kill you."  
  
The Cybernik immediately attacked Sonic, throwing punch after punch, but none were landing on their target, as Sonic was fast enough to avoid them. Despite this, Sonic wouldn't retaliate, not wanting to attack it, knowing that his friend was inside and not knowing if he would be ok if he let loose and smashed it open. The Cybernik however, continues its onslaught, much to the delight Robotnik, now giddy with excitement of how well his creation is doing. Sonic was getting tired, he could keep doing this for much longer, he had to attack, even if it was his friend inside. He quickly ran behind it, turned and hit it in the back of the head with a Spin Attack, knocking it to the ground with a loud clang.  
  
"So much for your new machine." Sonic mocked over his shoulder. "Ah, but you haven't seen any of it's tricks yet." Robotnik replied.  
  
The Cybernik shot back up and aimed one of its lasers at Sonic, as soon as it fired, Sonic threw himself to one side to avoid it, but he was still caught by the blast as it hit the ground, causing him to land awkwardly.  
  
"I think you'll love his next weapon, in fact, I think you'll go to pieces over it." Robotnik cackled, unable to stop himself from laughing at his own terrible joke.  
  
The Cybernik turned away and placed its hands on the floor, Sonic just watched unsure at what the machine was doing, slowly the rotor blades began to turn, picking up speed in a matter of seconds, it was then that Sonic realised what was happening, he was being sucked in towards the razor sharp rotor blades. He tried to get up and run away, but the suction was already too strong, he could only hold fast, then it got stronger. He slowly began to drift backwards getting closer and closer to the blades, he was less than a few inches away, when suddenly a huge blast hit the robot and sent it flying across the room. The sudden stop in suction almost made Sonic run into the nearest wall, but he just managed to turn in time and take a quick rest.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing you stupid machine? Sonic was about to become mincemeat!" Robotnik bellowed over the intercom. At first Sonic thought he was venting his anger on the Cybernik, who had stopped just before he could have killed him, but then he noticed something else in the room. The Metallix. "I must kill Sonic The Hedgehog." It commanded, clearly malfunctioning after its fight with him. "I think I'm going to have to make some adjustment to the Metallix." Robotnik grumbled to himself. "Cybernik, destroy them both!" He shouted.  
  
The Cybernik slowly got back to its feet, despite the force of the blast it took, its armour was almost unscathed barring a few scorch marks. However, it didn't try to attack, instead it just stood there, carrying itself in a child like manner. "S-Sonic, I'm sorry, I-I can't help it." It said. "Tails!" Sonic called, immediately recognising his friend's voice. "I said attack!" Robotnik roared. Tails dropped to one knee, holding his head. "Sonic, please help me." He begged before Robotnik bellowed another command. "Tails, keep fighting it, I know you can do it." Sonic called to the mechanised fox. After a few moments the fox looked up again. "Tails?" Sonic spoke, not knowing who was now in control. He stood up once more, aimed his laser and fired it, hitting the Metallix, which had been walking around in circles for the past five minutes, right in the head, blowing it clean apart. "Oh man, am I glad it's you." Sonic sighed, walking over to Tails, but stopped when the machine moved its arm again, this time aiming it at him. "Uh oh." Was all the hedgehog could think of in the short space of time he had.  
  
He quickly ducked underneath the laser shot, and then charged at the Cybernik, jumping in the air and landing a heavy foot into its face and knocking it to the ground. Yet it got straight back up again. Sonic knew this wasn't going to work, the armour was simply too strong, so after dodging another laser blast, he put all of the strength he could muster into one Spin Attack, just like he had done with the door. He hit the Cybernik in the chest, hurling it across the room and into a mainframe that was positioned against the wall. The Mainframe begins to malfunction, sending wave after wave of electricity into the robot, suddenly the head lifts up and the chest unfolds, exposing Tails, hooked up to all sorts of plugs and wires. Sonic tries to get to his friend before he gets fried, but the spouting bolts of electricity keep him at bay; he tries to quickly think of a way to help him, when suddenly the mainframe shuts down, stopping the flowing electricity.  
  
"What the." Sonic began, only stopping as he noticed Sally standing only a few yards away, she had just woken up in time to witness Sonic's final blow, and had rushed over to help. "It's called a plug Sonic." She said, swinging the lead around in a circle. "I'll get Tails, you get through that door." She instructed, pointing to the same place Robotnik had earlier.  
  
Once at the door, Sonic checked it over, just in case there were any obvious traps, not seeing any, he wandered to the side of the door and tentatively pushed the button, the doors burst into life, half of it lifting up into the wall, the other half retracting into the floor. Inside, the captured Mobians were squinting from the bright light, which had just entered their pitch-black room, as soon as Sonic came into view, the prisoners began rejoicing, some even crying with glee. The blue hedgehog entered the room, immediately noticing the thick long chain that tied all of the prisoners together by the ankles, and also secured them to the wall.  
  
Grabbing the nearest wall attachment, he pulled as hard as he could, placing a foot on the wall for extra leverage after his first failed attempt. It wasn't long before Sonic became impatient; he turned to face the prisoners with an annoyed expression. "Well don't just sit there, give me a hand." He shouted. The Emerald Hill people snapped into action, lining up behind the blue hedgehog and, in count, began pulling the chain, after a few tugs, a link broke near the wall, and they all tumbled backwards. "Quick, get out of here, and don't stop running until you get home." Sonic ordered while helping the prisoners free themselves via the loose end.  
  
The villagers had all left the lab in just a few minutes, Sonic dashed up to Sally, who had by then freed Tails and was carrying the unconscious fox in her arms. "Is that everybody?" She asked. "Yeah, now let's get out of here." Sonic replied, and was about to start running when the PA system kicked in again. "Not so fast Spikeball!" Robotnik shouted, the blast door closing at the same time, locking them inside. Sonic looked up at the control room, where Robotnik was before, but it was empty. "There's no point looking for me Sonic," Robotnik cackled. "I left while you were doing your little rescue mission, and I'm now far enough away so I wont get caught by the blast." "Blast?" Sonic wondered out loud. "Oh, that's right, I haven't told you yet." He gloated, wanting to drag his inevitable victory out for as long as possible. "My lab is rigged with enough explosives to destroy the whole building, and you with it." He exclaimed, bellowing with laughter upon its finish.  
  
"So your gonna blow me up eh, but what about your precious Head Quarters, if what you say is true, then you'll turn it to rubble." Sonic explained to the nearest camera, trying to talk his way out of the bad situation. "But my Head Quarters can be rebuilt, and it will be a lot easier to do so without you around." Robotnik replied. "You not gonna get away with this." Sonic shouted back, feeling aggravated that his plan hadn't worked. "How cliché, you have minutes before your pathetic lives end, that should be enough time for you to beg for mercy." Robotnik gloated once more. "Not that I'll give it." He muttered under his breath. With that a countdown started inside the lab.  
  
"There's got to be a way out of here." Sally said with a slight air of panic in her voice. "But where?" Sonic replied. "We're underground, and that door is way too thick for me to knock down." "Then we have to shut the self destruct program down." She exclaimed, running to the nearest console. She handed Tails to Sonic, and began typing away, trying to get into its systems, but each time her path was block by a password screen, to which she couldn't guess.  
  
While she kept trying, Sonic laid Tails on the floor and gently began to tap his face, trying to wake the fox up. "Tails, wake up buddy." But he soon got impatient and gave him a hefty slap. "Wake up Tails!" The first thing Tails did after he slowly opened his eyes was to clutch his stinging cheek. "Why are you hitting me." He whimpered. "Sorry bro, but you wouldn't wake up, and we need your help." Sonic explained. "You're good with computers right?" He asked to be certain. "Well I don't like to gloat but." He began to say. "That's great, come on." Sonic interrupted, grabbing his wrist and pulling him up and toward the console. But before Tails could start typing, he collapsed to the floor. "What wrong with me?" "That's probably my fault." Sonic admitted, remembering the final blow he dealt on the Cybernik. "But there's no time to just lay there, I'll hold you up while you type, and hurry, the bombs gonna go off in less than three minutes." He explained. "Bomb!" Tails shrieked, immediately getting back up again.  
  
Tails began frantically typing, information passing over the screen so fast that even Sonic couldn't keep up with it, but each time the message displayed 'access denied'. To make things worse Tails was slowing down and was finding it increasingly difficult to stay awake. The computers voice announced that there was only a minute left, but Tails still couldn't get in. "Thirty seconds." It broadcasted again, then Tails stopped, his arms flopped to his sides and his head lolled. Sonic, who was holding on to his torso, let go and moved to his side to check on him. "Oh great, he's out of it again." He grumbled, as Tails fell face first into the keyboard, then onto the floor. "Ooh, that's gotta hurt." He commented, quickly picking his friend back up again.  
  
"Sonic look!" Sally cried excitedly, pointing to the screen, to which Sonic complied. The screen was now flashing 'access granted', then began shutting down the self-destruct sequence and opened the blast door. "Alright!" Sonic shouted. "Tails and his face stopped the bombs, in your face Robotnik." He continued, celebrating with a little victory dance with Tails, who was still unconscious. "Come on Sonic, let's go in case it starts up again." Sally called. The three left the building as quickly as possible, heading back for home with the rest of the Emerald Hill villagers.  
  
Meanwhile, in an unknown area, Robotnik was cursing the hedgehog to high heaven, smashing his view screen in his rage. "That hedgehog ruins everything." He yelled. "But mark my words hedgehog, when my Death Egg is complete, you shall regret the day you crossed paths with Dr. Ivo Robotnik." He bellowed at the top of his lungs, laughing insanely into the night air. 


End file.
